AI Daily: Databricks raising $4B at $134B valuation

Office of Personnel Management launching U.S. Tech Force

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:\

FUNDING ROUND: 

Databricks announced it is raising a greater than $4B Series L investment, valuing the company at $134B. Additionally, the company crossed a $4.8B revenue run-rate during its Q3, growing greater than 55% year-over-year, including greater than $1B revenue run-rate from its Data Warehousing business and greater than $1B revenue run-rate from its AI products – all while delivering positive free cash flow over the last 12 months. Databricks will use this new capital to help customers build AI apps and agents on their proprietary data, leveraging Lakebase as the system of record, Databricks Apps as the user experience layer, and Agent Bricks to power multi-agent systems. The round was led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, funds managed by Blackstone, Coatue, GIC, MGX, NEA, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Robinhood Ventures, accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Temasek, Thrive Capital and Winslow Capital.

U.S. TECH FORCE: 

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration, the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy, and agency leaders across the administration, on Monday announced the establishment of the United States Tech Force, a new, cross-government program to recruit top technologists to modernize the federal government. “President Trump has made clear that securing America’s leadership in AI is the paramount national challenge of this generation. The president’s AI Action Plan focuses on unleashing private sector innovation while also recognizing the federal government must have the technical talent to lead in technology modernization. Tech Force is a critical aspect of this directive – a government-wide effort to surge teams of top engineers, data scientists, and technology leaders to tackle the government’s most complex and large-scale challenges and deliver on the president’s vision. In collaboration with leading private-sector technology companies, participants will receive world-class technical training and work closely with senior managers sourced directly from industry.”

OPM announced the initial private sector partners for Tech Force: Adobe (ADBE), Amazon Web Services (AMZN), AMD (AMD), Anduril, Apple (AAPL), Box (BOX), C3.ai (AI), Coinbase (COIN), Databricks, Dell Technologies (DELL), Docusign (DOCU), Google Public Sector (GOOGL), IBM (IBM), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL), Palantir (PLTR), Robinhood (HOOD), Salesforce (CRM), SAP (SAP), ServiceNow (NOW), Snowflake (SNOW), Synopsys (SNPS), Uber (UBER), Workday (WDAY), xAI, and Zoom (ZM).

VIBE CODING STARTUP: Vibe coding startup Lovable’s latest funding round values the company at $6.6B and includes U.S. VC firm Accel, sources with knowledge of the deal told CNBC, Kai Nicol-Schwarz reports. That figure is more than triple the $1.8B valuation the Swedish AI company achieved after closing its most recent funding round in July. It’s Lovable’s third in 2025 and follows a breakneck year of growth that’s seen it become one of Europe’s most valuable startups, the author notes.

NOT YET: Toymaker Mattel (MAT) won’t unveil its first product with OpenAI this year as originally hoped, Axios has confirmed, Ina Fried reports. The move comes amid greater scrutiny of AI interactions with teens as well as some high-profile issues with other toys that include generative AI, the author notes. 

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Originally Posted December 16, 2025 – AI Daily: Databricks raising $4B at $134B valuation